The tennis worlds of the Warsaw Tigers and Wawasee Warriors crossed Thursday at the Warsaw Sectional.
Taking a 3-2 sectional championship victory, the Warriors (11-6) defeated the Tigers (11-3) at the sectional for the first time in six tries, defeating Warsaw 3-2 back in the 2004 sectional finals."This is how tradition starts," Wawasee coach Roger Brady said about beating Warsaw, a team his squad had last to 10-straight times. "The tough thing about Wawasee tennis is we're cyclical. That means we'll have a good team one year and then go 10 years without a team. That's because we don't have the people that come in year after year like Warsaw does. This was a little bit of a down year for them because they were changing over and we happened to catch them on a good year. Next year, I can guarantee you it's going to be totally different."
Warsaw had won the sectional every year since that 2004 loss to Wawasee, but Thursday's defeat wasn't a total surprise to Warsaw coach Rick Orban.
"There's no shock," he said. "They almost beat us during the regular season (losing 3-2 on Sept. 18), then switched their lineup up. They moved (senior Garly) Windle down to (No. 2 singles) and (senior) Nathan (Brady) up to (No. 1 singles). That strengthened their lineup. So, in a way, I guess I got outcoached, because I could have moved mine around too."
Instead of changing his lineup, Orban went with the same guys he had for most of the season.
Following a 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) win by Warsaw senior Nick Shoemaker and sophomore AJ Herendeen at No. 2 doubles, Windle evened the score with his 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles.
Over on the No. 1 doubles court, Wawasee senior Nick Price and junior Westin Becker followed their 6-1 opening-set victory by falling behind 3-0 in the second. However, the Warriors turned it around by winning six of the next seven games, getting the 6-4 second-set victory and the match win.
"I couldn't be prouder of the No. 1 doubles team," Brady said. "They've improved so much. They lost to these guys in three sets (earlier in the season) and have beaten them two times (since then). That's very, very satisfying."
The doubles win gave Wawasee a 2-1 lead, and with Brady in control of his No. 1 singles match with a 6-4 opening-set win and lead in the second, the upset was in the works.
Ahead 4-1, Brady saw Warsaw senior Will Anderson close the gap at 4-3, but he bounced back to take the next three games and win the set, and match, 6-3.
Brady's victory gave Wawasee the team victory, but the celebration couldn't fully begin until the No. 3 singles match between senior David Toerner and Warsaw freshman Evan Miller ended, which it eventually did with Miller winning 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.
Perhaps Orban wasn't too upset because his team did seem to overachieve this year.
"I have two freshmen, two sophomores, a junior and three seniors and only two of them had played varsity before," he said. "Wawasee's experience really paid off. Every one of those kids had played a varsity match before this year. Our kids, tonight, played not to lose instead of to win. That's a difficult thing to overcome.'
That inexperience reared its head during the postseason.
After finishing the regular season with a 7-0 Northern Lakes Conference record, the Tigers placed fourth at last weekend's NLC tournament, finishing second overall in the conference standings.
"You could see them getting tighter and tighter as the season went on," Orban said. "It's inexperience. It's hard to overcome. The good thing is, next year, all that inexperience becomes experience."
And Wawasee's experience seemed to make the Warriors stronger as the season progressed.
"The thing that was the key for us, was at the conference tourney, when we lost in those first round matches every single person came back to win the next one," Brady said. "That means you lose a tough match, then come back and win another. That tells you your character. That showed today."
The Wawasee program has been through some very lean years, but the culmination of all the hard work showed Thursday as the sectional trophy was passed around. First, it had its picture taken with the team, then with the coaches and seniors, then with Brady and his son Nathan Brady, then with every player.
After winning the 2004 title, Wawasee went 0-14 three-straight years and 11-63 over the next five years.
"In four years (with these seniors) we're 11-6 and we're winning sectional," Brady said. "We worked hard and we did it."
Wawasee now moves on to the Concord Regional, where they open play Tuesday against the winners of the Concord, East Noble and Goshen sectionals.
"We're going to be competitive and we're going to play," Brady said. "You get a team, and you let them know what they can do, who knows what they'll do?"
WAWASEE 3, WARSAW 2
SINGLES: No. 1 - Nathan Brady (Waw) def. Will Anderson 6-4, 6-3; No. 2 - Garly Windle (Waw) def. Brenton Reyner 6-1, 6-2; No. 3 - Evan Miller (War) def. David Toerner 7-6 (8-6), 6-3
